Selene Gallio (Earth-616)
}} | CurrentAlias = Selene | Aliases = Demon Huntress, Dark Huntress, Lady Selene, Moon Goddess, Daughter of the Moon, Mistress of the Fire, Black Priestess, Black Queen , Dark Priestess, | Identity = Secret | Affiliation = , formerly , , , , unnamed tribe | Relatives = Unnamed mother (deceased); Marcus Domitius Gallio (husband, deceased); Amara Aquilla (Magma) (alleged descendant); | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = formerly Black Rome, Necrosha; Hellfire Club Mansion, New York; Nova Roma, Brazil; Roman Republic, Italy | Gender = Female | Height = 5'10" | Weight = 130 lbs | Eyes = Brown | Eyes2 = Red (using power) | Hair = Black | UnusualFeatures = | Citizenship = Roman | MaritalStatus = Widowed | Occupation = Sorceress | Education = Self-taught over centuries | Origin = Mutant, , magician | PlaceOfBirth = Transylvania, Romania | PlaceOfDeath = | Creators = Chris Claremont; Sal Buscema | First = New Mutants #9 | Death = | HistoryText = Hyborian Age Selene was born 17,000 years ago in central Europe, "After the Oceans swallowed Atlantis" and "Before the rise of the sons of Aryas". Selene's mother was young when she bore her, but would be dead before Selene spoke her first words. The tribal elders ordered her mother's people to sacrifice themselves to Selene until none remained. They thus gave her sustenance and her name. She was an old enemy of sorcerer Kulan Gath. Red Sonja reportedly managed to kill him and his spirit would not manifest again until the modern age. Thus, Selene was active at least as early as the Hyborian Age, and is assumed to have been wandering the world for millennia. Rome During the times of the Roman Empire, Selene had an eye on Senator Eliphas, who was used by others for their own benefit. She came before him, offering him her eternal love and immortality - if he helped her sacrifice the countless souls of Rome. The thousands of souls that she would feed on would allow her to become as powerful as a god. She instructed her pawn to draw symbols around the city in his own blood for the ritual. However, Eliphas performed a small act of compassion by telling a slave girl he gave ruby earrings to about what was going to happen. Her father informed the authorities, who captured both Eliphas and Selene and sentenced them to be burned at the stake. Selene awoke before it could happen and set the flames back against their would-be executioners. Furious at Eliphas for seemingly betraying her, she took his life-force and transformed him into a vampire-like creature, swearing that he would never see her again. Modern Times Selene created the land of Nova Roma in Brazil, bringing outsiders to her paradise with her psychic powers and forcing them to worship her as the Dark Priestess. She led everyone to believe Nova Roma was a colony of the ancient Roman Empire, until she was discovered by the New Mutants. Trying to sacrifice Amarra Aquilla, this last revelate to be a volcanic and revengeful mutant. Solar lock the witch under a rock. The New Mutants were cautious that she was not dead. Intrigued by seeing the young heroes use their powers, Selene traveled to New York City. In New York, Selene seduce Cain Marko in a bar, hoping to absorb his life force, indirectly prevented by the X-Men since happened upon Rachel Summers when sensing her immense power. She attempted to drain her life-force, but was prevented by the X-Men. Soon after, Selene became interested in the Hellfire Club and tried to join its Inner Circle with help from her worshiper Friedrich von Roehm. Sensing Rachel Summers and Magma nearby, she defeated them and offered them as gifts to the Club. While the adolescents were rescued by the X-Men, Selene was admitted and given the position of Black Queen. However, it was clear that Sebastian Shaw was frighten by the witch although considering their association. Selene develop also a rivality with the White Queen Emma Frost. When Kulan Gath transformed all of Manhattan into a Hyborian Age land, Selene was unaffected by the dark sorcerer's spell. It was revealed that she was an old enemy of Gath: the two had feuded long ago during the actual Hyborian Age. Selene's spells caused Storm and Callisto to remember Gath was an enemy, eventually leading to his defeat. Later, when Shaw was in search for a new person for the title of the White King, he threw a party to which he invited the most influential men in the world and tried to decide who was most fit for this position. Rejecting the candidacy of Tony Stark, he chose Prince Namor of Atlantis, and invited him to join the Club. But Namor contemptuously rejected the proposal, saying that if Sebastian ever again dared to waste his time with such a minor thing, he would kill him. This drove Shaw into a frenzy, so he ordered Emma to force Namor to join the Club, no matter what the cost. A few days later, she acted out a suicide by jumping overboard from a yacht to attract Namor's attention. He rescued her and they spent two weeks together in Atlantis. Shaw, however, tired of waiting for news from Emma Frost, i, and thinking that Namor had killed or captured her, decided to send the Sentinels for her. Sentinels attacked Namor and Emma, and caused damage to Atlantis, and Namor took this as a declaration of war. Finding out where the Sentinels came from, Namor, along with Emma, went there and clashed with Shaw, Pierce and Selene. Selene mind-wiped Emma to erase the memories of her betrayal and make her loyal to the Club again. Surrounded by two telepaths, Shaw explained to Namor that he would never get close enough to kill him. Namor left, but vowed to take revenge one day. Rachel Summers plotted to kill Selene and the other members of the Hellfire Club after recovering the memories of the Phoenix Force, whom she believed to be her mother. Having drained the X-Men's life-forces temporarily to battle the Beyonder, the spirit of Wolverine was drawn into her dreams, where he learned her intentions. Rachel confronted Selene in her room at the club, and was about to kill her when Wolverine arrived. He tried to reason with the young X-Man, and when she attempted to carry on, he stabbed her through the heart with his claws, saving Selene. Joined by Sebastian Shaw, Harry Leland and Friedrich von Roehm, Selene sought revenge for Rachel's attack. Encountering the X-Men in Central Park, the two groups clashed, even though the Hellfire Club were outnumbered by the heroes. Selene proved herself in combat by disintegrating Rogue's gloves as she tried to save Colossus from Leland's density-altering power. To both teams' surprise, the time-displaced mutant hunter Nimrod appeared, declaring that they were all viable targets. Within moments the robot had vaporized von Roehm and proceeded to attack the others, leading to Nightcrawler being shocked and Shaw being launched into the upper atmosphere. Combining their efforts, the Hellfire Club and X-Men were able to defeat Nimrod. Leland used his power to change Shaw's orbit-bound course, while Selene animated power cables to restrain the advanced Sentinel. Even with the Black King smashing into Nimrod at terminal velocity and Wolverine poised to slash apart the exposed internal systems, the mutant hunter was still able to teleport to safety. Having exerted his power to its limit, Harry Leland died. The two groups parted amicably, willing to cooperate in future. Selene was present at a party held in the Club, where Magneto, becoming White King to the Inner Circle and his students the New Mutants were invited. She tried to intimidate Amarra by revealing to have killed her mother. She revelate also to be Amarra's ancestor. It remains unconfirmed. At this time, Selene had great plans concerning Nova Roma. Also, she tried with Shaw, Frost and Magneto to save Amarra, kidnapped by the High Evolutionary's sbires. During Inferno's event, she tried with the others to control Magik's power for their own interests. However, it was prevented by the New Mutants. Magneto and Shaw leaving their position Selene remains active in the Club. She had a confrontation with the Skeleton Crew, tryin to stole weapon equipments from the club, indirectly prevented by Captain America and Diamondback. Over time, Selene's ambition grew and she arranged for the assassination of her fellow Lords Cardinal of the Hellfire Club. She created a hunting club of rich, bored mutants called the Upstarts, coordinated by the omnipath Gamesmaster to hunt and kill Hellfire Club members for sport. Selene lost control of the Upstarts, however, as Gamesmaster continued to moderate the game without her approval, and the Upstart Trevor Fitzroy captured and tortured her as part of the Hellfire hunt. Selene was critically wounded by Fitzroy's trap and barely escaped. She spent some time recuperating in Paris, where she eventually found and seduced Madelyne Pryor into her employ. Selene found a way to rejuvenate herself by stalking and killing her fellow Externals, draining their life essences. She and Sebastian Shaw later formed an uneasy alliance and reclaimed control of the Hellfire Club from Shinobi Shaw, Sebastian's son and one of Selene's former Upstarts. After Sebastian lost interest in the Club, Selene tried to reform the Inner Circle with demonic help, bringing Mephisto's son Blackheart in as her new Black King. Her efforts were opposed by the Son of Satan and the Fantastic Four. She also attempted to coerce Roberto Dacosta into the Club as her Black Rook. Selene lost control of the Club, however, and was condemned to a shadowy existence bound within the borders of the Club mansion. She later battled Storm's team of X-Men as they sought out her ally Donald Pierce. Eliphas, changing his name to Eli Bard, searched the world for Selene, despite the curse she placed on him. He eventually found her in Nova Roma, but was too scared to approach her. He planned on completing her original plan from a few thousand years ago, by sacrificing the thousands of Purifiers for her. However, he changed his plan when he saw the Technarchy's abilities to reanimate the dead. He resurrected an Apache tribe he slaughtered many decades ago, including Caliban, whom he presented to Selene as his gift, to find all the mutants in the world as her army and sacrifice, which Selene gladly accepted. To help her collect all the deceased mutants in the world and claim their souls, Selene gathered mutants with deadly abilities, including Wither, Senyaka, Blink, Mortis, and of course Eliphas. They traveled around the world, reanimating long dead friends and foes of the X-Men, before journeying finally to Genosha, where 16 million mutants had been killed by Wild Sentinels sent by Cassandra Nova. Selene sent her reanimated slaves to attack the X-Men on Utopia. While the X-Men were occupied defending themselves from foes and friends long lost, Selene ordered Eliphas to reanimate all the deceased mutants of Genosha; because of M-Day, however, only a million or less of the 16 million mutants on Genosha had retained their abilities. With a million mutant souls ready to be offered to her, she sent her Inner Circle to collect the mystical knife needed to make the ritual work. Selene's Inner Circle attacked Utopia and killed Onyxx, Diamond Lil and Meld. They managed to return with the knife and capture Warpath in the process. As Selene commanded her Inner Circle to prepare the ritual, X-Force arrived at Genosha and tried to stop the ritual, but they were too late to prevent Selene absorbing the reanimated souls of a million mutants and ascending to godhood. During her ascension, X-Force attacked her Inner Circle, killing Senyaka and Wither (Eliphas had been killed by Selene earlier). Selene, now a goddess, was then alone against X-Force, and Warpath managed to stab Selene in the heart with the same knife used to perform the ritual. Selene exploded, and it is presumed that she died. It was later revealed that Selene's body and soul had been preserved as airborne particles and somehow stored in stasis in a vault located somewhere in New York City. Lady Deathstrike and the Enchantress gained access to the vault, and through the newly enhanced magic granted to Deathstrike by the sentient virus, Arkea, she was able to fully restore Selene to physical life for the purpose of adding her to the newly-formed Sisterhood of Mutants. Selene was confronted alongside Madelyne Pryor and Arkea by Storm and Rachel Summers. However, because Selene and Madelyne did not particularly care for her, they took Storm's offer to let them go in exchange for Arkea. | Powers = Life-Force Absorption: Selene can psionically drain the life forces of other human beings into herself, by physical touch. If she drained a person’s entire life force from him or her, the victim dies and the victim’s body crumbles into dust. It is unknown how often Selene must drain life force from another human in order to survive. A side-effect of this absorption is that Selene takes on the memories of her victims. Great expenditure of power causes Selene to age, but she can rejuvenate herself by absorbing more life force. Selene will not age as long as she maintains her supply of absorbed life force. *''Psychic Vampire:'' If Selene drains only part of a victim's life force, Selene achieves a measure of psychic control over her victim’s mind. Through unknown means, Selene can cause a human being to become a psychic vampire like herself, but be subordinate to Selene’s own will. Physical Enhancement: By using the absorbed life energies that sustain her, Selene can enhance her physical strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, and durability to superhuman levels. *''Superhuman Strength'' *''Superhuman Endurance'' *''Superhuman Reflexes'' *''Superhuman Speed:'' Selene can momentarily move at superhuman speeds of around 175 miles/hour, though this requires a heavy expenditure of energy and can cause her to age rapidly and require more life energy immediately. Telekinesis: Her telekinetic abilities gives her complete psionic control over inanimate objects. *''Telekinetic Animation:'' She can cause inanimate objects to move according to her will by projecting part of her absorbed life force into them. *''Inanimate Disintegration:'' She can cause inanimate objects in her presence to disintegrate. She cannot, however, rearrange the atomic or molecular structure of matter. Pyrokinesis: Selene can psionically generate and project intense heat and flame from and around her body or direct it at certain distances. The exact radius remains unknown. She was also able to manipulate flame created from other sources and could magnify their intensity or snuff them. The flames Selene generated could also be illusory in effect; for example, she could focus the power on an object making it appear to be on fire while it was not being damaged by the flames at all. Selene instinctively created a psionic force field about her entire body that protected her from the effects of the heat and flame she created and from other sources as well Telepathy: High Order telepath. She is capable of displaying various psionic feats with the minds of others including reading and communicating with thoughts over vast distances. *''Psi-Screen:'' Selene is able to shield herself from psionic intrusion. *''Mental Bolts:'' She can project psionic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind so as to cause the victim pain or unconsciousness. She was even able to temporarily subdue the Grey Hulk with this power before he could fight it off. *''Hypnotic Trance:'' She can induce a momentary hypnotic trance state in people around her. Often used along with her speed to create the illusion of teleportation. *'Astral Projection:' Her telepathy is strong enough for her to survive in her astral form. Immortal: She his Immortal, she regenerate injured or missing cells from even near-fatal injuries. *''Rapid Healing:'' She has the ability to endure injuries (within unknown limits) without lasting harm or even feeling pain such as knife wounds. Sorcery: She possesses considerable magical abilities, having gained a great deal of mystical knowledge over the millennia. The number of magical effects that she can create has yet to be cataloged, but it is known that she can cast and counteract spells and summon extra-dimensional demons. Darkforce or Shadow Manipulation: It is seen that she can turn herself into a shadow figure enabling her to blend in. | Abilities = | Strength = Selene possesses superhuman strength, enabling her to lift (press) about 1,500 pounds under optimal conditions. | Weaknesses = | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = | Notes = * Selene appears to age as she uses magic, especially when she over-exerts herself. | Trivia = * The former Hellion Firestar was originally trained by the White Queen for the sole purpose of assassinating Selene. * The main character Selene in the Underworld series is based on her.wikipedia entry * She appears as a protagonist in ''New Mutants Forever''. * At over 17000 years, she is the oldest known mutant, and possibly the first ever to be born. * The name "Selene" is Greek in origin. Selene was the Greek name of both the Moon (the natural satellite of the Earth) and the goddess personifying it. The Roman equivalent of Selene was Luna. | Links = * uncannyxmen.net Bring on the Bad Guys: Selene - La Belle Dame Sans Merci | Wikipedia = Selene (comics) }} References Category:Hyborian Age Characters Category:Sorcerer Supreme Candidate Category:Energy Absorption Category:Immortals Category:Pyrokinesis Category:Regeneration Category:Telekinesis Category:Telepaths Category:Killed by Warpath Category:Post-M-Day Mutants (The 198) Category:Necrosha casualties Category:Externals Category:Severe Threats Category:Formerly Deceased Category:Psychic Vampires Category:Romans Category:Copy Edit Category:Selene Family Category:Nova Romans Category:Brown Eyes